gloomy anticipations. But if his conscience reproaches him with no injustice, he enjoys the abiding presence of sweet Hope, that kind nurse of old age, as Pindar calls it. . . . And it is this consideration, as I hold, that makes riches chiefly valuable, I do not say to everybody, but at any rate to the good. For they contribute greatly to our preservation from even unintentional deceit or falsehood, and from that alarm which would attend our departure to the other world, if we owed any sacrifices to a god, or any money to a man. They have also many other uses. But after weighing them all separately, Socrates, I am inclined to consider this service as anything but the least important which riches can render to a wise and sensible man."—D.
"So, then, this is the meaning of Justice," says Socrates, seizing on the word Injustice—"to tell the truth and pay your debts?"
"Certainly, if we are to believe the poet Simonides," says Polemarchus (for Cephalus gives up the discussion, and quits the company); "his words are—to pay back what you owe to each is just."
"But you surely would never give back to a mad friend a sword which he had lent you?"
"No," says Polemarchus; "for Simonides says again, you should give back what is proper to each man—that is, good to your friends and evil to your foes; and if you ask how, by making alliance with one and going to war with the other; and in peace, Justice is of use in ordinary dealings between man and man—especially when you wish your money to be safely kept."
"That is," says Socrates, "when your money is idle and useless—then only Justice is useful! Again, since the doctor can poison as well as heal, and the general
